FAQ

Can I edit my book outside Writingale?

Yes — that's the point. Files are plain markdown with YAML frontmatter. Writingale watches the folder and reloads external changes automatically; ⌘R forces a reload. The only rule: don't change an entity's uid.

What happens if I rename a character?

Nothing breaks. References store the uid, not the name; the editor and all views immediately display the new name, and export resolves to whatever the name is at export time.

Can I use git?

Absolutely. New books get a .gitignore (covering .writingale/ local state). Everything else — manifest, types, entities — is diff-friendly text.

How do I write a flashback?

Give the chapter a story time before 0 (e.g. time: { from: -3650 }). It sits where it belongs in the manuscript, and the timeline's Story Order view shows it at its true point in history — switch to Manuscript Order to see the difference between telling order and story order.

What's the difference between a Note annotation and a relationship?

A relationship links two story-world entities with a kind ("rivals", "creditor"). An annotation attaches an annotator entity (like a Note) to a document or a quoted passage — it's commentary about the text, not a fact of the world.

An annotation is marked "stale" — what now?

The quoted passage no longer exists in the target (and fuzzy matching couldn't find it). Open the note, decide whether the comment still applies, and either re-anchor it to new text or remove the annotation. Nothing is deleted for you.

Why doesn't my entity show on the timeline?

It needs three things: its type has the timeline trait, the type isn't opted out (views: { timeline: false }), and the entity has a time.from value.

Why doesn't the word count move when I type in a note?

Goals and the manuscript word count only count manuscript-trait entities that aren't marked as material. Notes, characters, and asides never inflate progress.

Can a book have types beyond the default five?

Yes — types are per-book, defined in types.yaml or the built-in type editor. The example book adds Factions (with custom fields including text, numbers, lists, and references). See Entity Types & Traits.

Where are my writing statistics stored?

Per book, in .writingale/stats.json — local state, gitignored, delta-based, and never decreasing.

Is there an iOS / Windows / Linux version?

The app is macOS-only (macOS 14+), available on the Mac App Store. Because books are plain markdown and YAML files, they remain readable and editable on any platform even without the app.